Daily Archives: January 12, 2019

Addressing a meeting with cabinet members, U.S President Donald Trump once again exposed his obvious hypocrisy. While the American president expressed his desire to visit Pakistan and meet Prime Minister Imran, he considered it essential to blast Islamabad for housing the “enemy”. According to Trump, Pakistan was not fair to Washington which made him end the 1.3 billion dollars that the US was sending Pakistan. Ironically at the same time, he wanted to start peace talks with the Afghan Taliban and wanted to have a meeting with Pakistan regarding the matter. American Senator Lindsay Graham told CNN in an interview that if Islamabad was successful in helping the US negotiate with Taliban, the U.S would offer Pakistan a free trade agreement. Donald Trump had also recently sent a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan in requesting for his help in order to negotiate with the Taliban. Strangely, a month prior to that the US president did not forget to blame Pakistan in an interview with Fox News, a channel highly supportive of the Trump administration.

The only thing that can be expected from the current administration in Washington is one thing; hypocrisy. Pakistan should not act in a neutral manner nor maintain a positive tone but always should be on guard and take full advantage of its ties with China in order to be firm with the U.S. It is pretty clear that despite constant reminders, the US does not really acknowledge the many deaths that took place in Pakistan due to the war on terror and instead is putting its frustration of losing the war on Islamabad. The U.S influence in South Asia is weakening day by day. Pakistan’s new leadership has rightfully made it clear that it will no longer be a punching bag. Despite different methods and for different reasons both countries are on the same page when it comes to resolving the conflict in Afghanistan. However, the problem is that Pakistan and the US don’t understand that it is not their burden to bear anymore. The issues in Afghanistan and how to deal with it should be the responsibility of the Afghan government and its people. Pakistan should focus on its own borders and try to look at the problems in Kabul from a lens because as a neighboring country, it might have some impact on Islamabad. The Trump administration may act confused and they have made it obvious but some smart leadership elements of the U.S have realized that Afghanistan is out of their hands and now it’s time to fund militants and cause chaos in some new country for resources.

ISLAMABAD: While the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has expressed satisfaction over Pakistan’s efforts as well as plans against money laundering, India continues to raise questions about terror financing.

“The proceedings went well and almost all the FATF members appreciated measures taken by Pakistan and actions planned by it,” sources told after the conclusion of a three-day conference in Sydney, Australia.

The sources said that India kept asking questions about the measures Pakistan had taken against Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and other such organisations. It dem­anded that the steps be made public.

The Pakistani delegation explained that all the actions recommended by the FATF had been taken and a compliance report submitted to its headquarters.

The delegation also made it clear that it would be the Pakistan government’s decision whether or not to publicize actions taken against banned organisations and would not succumb to desires of any specific member.

Most other members seem satisfied with Islamabad’s efforts against money laundering, terror financing

Pakistani officials also made it clear that they would not respond to verbal questions from adversaries but would be ready to provide comprehensive responses if written queries were submitted.

The sources said the Indian delegates then filed a total of 28 questions with the FATF, which were shared with the Pakistani delegation.

Pakistan assured the FATF that responses to the questions would be provided in the next review meeting scheduled to be held in Paris on Feb 17-18. All the questions raised by the Indian delegates pertained to actions taken to block terror financing.

The sources said that Pakistan also told the FATF that there was no need for amendments to anti-money laundering laws and the Paris-based financial watchdog accepted Pakistan’s view.

While the action plan presented by Pakistan was accepted by the FATF as reasonable, the country would now follow up with implementation through strengthening of agencies and processes to combat money laundering and terror financing under international obligations.

The Pakistani delegation was led by Finance Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan and comprised representatives of the State Bank of Pakistan, National Counter Terrorism Authority, Federal Investigation Agency, Federal Board of Revenue and Financial Monitoring Unit.

An official claimed that the FATF had highlighted a few matters that were doable by May this year, but progress would need to be registered by February this year. A broader examination of the full compliance with international commitments will take place at another meeting in May, possibly in Sri Lanka or Australia.

Officials said the FATF had gone through the report dispatched by Pakistan last week before the review meetings with the Pakistani delegation involving questions and answers about the performance so far and the way forward. They said the FATF team appeared convinced over the steps and measures taken by the authorities to combat terror financing and money laundering in line with the UN resolutions.

The Pakistani delegation explained the implementation status of plans for various government agencies. Its report identified Pak-Afghan and Pak-Iran borders as key routes for terror financing and money laundering and reported that a total of 4,643 suspected transactions had been identified and blocked since 2015, including 3,677 suspected transaction reports and 966 financial intelligence reports.

A total of 1,167 transactions were seized last year alone, including 975 STRs and 210 financial intelligence reports.

The federal government has decided not to enter an International Monitory Fund (IMF) programme for now, Finance Minister Asad Umar as said on Saturday.

The finance minister made the remarks while talking to businessmen at the Karachi Chamber of Commence and Industry (KCCI).

Umar said that instead of rushing into the IMF programme, the government was exploring alternative options.

Furthermore, the finance minister announced that the government will unveil a mini-budget on Jan 23 instead of Jan 21. He associated the two-day delay to an impending foreign trip of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The finance minister said that his visits of Lahore and Karachi was regarding a one-point agenda: the amended finance bill, which he said will facilitate businessmen.

Umar indicated that the amended bill will also carry “some good news” for the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) .

The minister said that he consulted all stakeholders over the upcoming mini-budget, assuring the assortment of businessmen that tax anomalies will be eliminated in the budget.

The minister rejected the impression that the government was only borrowing money, stressing that several agreements have also been signed to bring investment into the country.

“The impacts of the investment agreements will start surfacing from the next week,” he added.

RAWALPINDI: Tajik Ambassador Sherali S. Jononov on Friday offered electricity to Pakistan and also expressed desire to increase the trade volume between the two countries.

“Rogun Dam in Tajikistan has begun its operations and we are ready to provide cheap and clean electricity to Pakistan to meet its energy needs in future,” he stated this during his visit to Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry offices.

“Pakistan trade and business community should come forward and take benefit of the emerging opportunities in Tajikistan,” he said.

The RCCI organised a farewell ceremony for the outgoing Ambassador of Tajikistan, Sherali S. Jononov.

RCCI President Malik Shahid Saleem and other office bearers were present on the occasion.

Addressing the ceremony,Tajikenvoy said that Pakistan and Tajikistan relations had historical, cultural and religious background and the roots of their relation are very deep. Both countries are enjoying friendly and cordial relationship.

Refreshing key memories of his tenure comprising six years, Tajik envoy said: “I have found Pakistan, a peaceful, positive and wonderful country and people of Pakistan are very hardworking, loving and full of hospitality. You can only know Pakistanis once you live in Pakistan.

“I always advise to my diplomatic friends to visit Pakistan, it’s an amazing country, and have beautiful weather and landscape,” he said.

He also shared information on key success stories during his tenure, including, Economic Corporation Organization (ECO) summit, visit of Pakistan President to Tajikistan in June 2018, frequent visits to at foreign office, Central Asia South Asia (CASA 1000) energy project etc.

Tajikenvoy appreciated RCCI’s role in promoting trade activities through exhibitions and exchange of delegations and urged others chambers to follow in the footsteps of RCCI.

Earlier, RCCI President Malik Shahid Saleem lauded envoy’s contribution to branding Pakistan’s positive image and increase relationships between two countries and at chamber of commerce level.

He expressed the hope that CASA1000 MW energy project will help Pakistan to meet its energy requirement.

He said tourism between the two countries could play a vital role here and urged for direct flights between Dushanbe and Islamabad.

In the end, a memento and a picture album were presented to theTajikenvoy.

RAWALPINDI/KARACHI: The Safety Investigation Board (SIB) tasked with a probe into the 2016 crash of a domestic flight that killed all the 47 people on board, including singer-turned-evangelist Junaid Jamshed, has found a ‘lapse’ on the part of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and a ‘lack of oversight’ by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) that may have led to the tragic incident.

On Dec 7, 2016, PIA aircraft ATR42-500 (PK-661) en route to Islamabad from Chitral had crashed into the mountains near Havelian tehsil of Abbottabad.

“The investigation is nearing a concluding stage, however, some important findings of technical nature require immediate attention/intervention,” said the one-page preliminary report of the SIB.

The SIB, an independent body that comes under the aviation division, has shared its report with the CAA and PIA.

PIA spokesman Mashood Tajwar told that the SIB’s findings were not a full report on the air crash but initial recommendations. He said: “The SIB’s suggestions will be followed and a reply will be submitted by the airlines.”

The SIB report said that the sequence of events began with dislodging of one blade of power turbine stage-1, inside engine-1 (left side engine), due to fatigue. This dislodging of one blade resulted in an in-flight engine shutdown and it contributed towards erratic/ abnormal behaviour of No 1 propeller.

According to the service bulletin, these turbine blades were to be changed after completion of 10,000 hours (of use) on next immediate maintenance opportunity. The said engine was under maintenance on Nov 11, 2016 and at that time these blades had completed 10,004.1 hours (of use) and were due for a change. This activity should have been undertaken at that time, but it was missed out by those concerned, the SIB report said.

According to it, the aircraft flew approximately 93 hours after the said maintenance activity before it crashed.

“Missing out of such an activity highlights a lapse on the part of PIAC (maintenance and quality assurance) and a possible inadequacy/lack of oversight by the CAA,” it said.

“The PIAC should ensure immediate implementation of the service bulletin in letter and spirit on the entire fleet of ATR aircraft, undertake an audit of the related areas of maintenance practices, ascertain root causes for the said lapse, and adopt appropriate corrective measures to avoid recurrence of such incidents,” the SIB recommended.

It suggested that the PIA should evaluate its oversight mechanism for its adequacy to discover lapses and intervene in a proactive manner, ascertain shortfall and undertake necessary improvements.

A senior official of the CAA said that the authority would give its view on the SIB report in a few days after reviewing it.